Chapter Twenty-Five: Brian Knight Potter
Harry sighed heavily as he collapsed into his favorite armchair by the fire in the Gryffindor common room. It had been another long, exhausting day searching for Brian with no results. All of their leads had turned up empty, and they were out of them. There hadn't been very many to begin with, but they had exhausted all the possibilities. It was almost as if the child had dropped off the face of the planet. They were hoping for some help from the Muggles. A team had been sent out that day to place signs around towns and to question some of the shop merchants. Harry rested his head in his hands, fear and worry beginning to overwhelm him. He could be anywhere out there, hurt and alone. How long would it take before they found him? What if they never found him? "Harry?" The man looked up as he heard Hermione tentatively say his name.
"This came for you earlier. It's your tests results, but I'm sure you passed judging by how heavy the letter is. Didn't you say that if you passed them all they would send a diploma saying that you had graduated?" He nodded and wordlessly took the letter from her. It was only a very small comfort as he opened the letter and saw his certificate of graduation behind his test results. This only proved that he could now start looking for a job and a house. It was only one step of many to getting Brian back and patching his life back together.
Brian opened his eyes, blinked several times, and looked around. Where in the world was he? The memories of what had happened came flooding back to him. He was with his long lost aunt, and her husband, his uncle. He loved being back with his aunt, but what about Daddy? He needed to get back to Daddy. He needed Daddy, and Daddy needed him. Hadn't Daddy told him how much he meant to him, and how he wouldn't know what to do if anything bad ever happened to him? How was Daddy doing now that he wasn't there? He needed to leave and find Daddy. He would still be at Hogwarts, but how could he get to Hogwarts? He didn't even really know where he was. His thoughts were interrupted as his aunt Kristy came into the room. She sat down on the couch and pulled him into her lap. Tears welled up in the child's eyes, forcibly reminded at his father.
"Did you have a good nap?" she asked warmly. Brian nodded while his heart constricted. He wanted to go back to Daddy. He wanted to leave. He needed to be with Daddy. The child buried his head in the woman's neck wanting to hide. Kristy smiled thinking that Brian was finally warming up to her after two weeks, but her face clouded over as she felt his tears wetting her neck. She held the child tighter and rubbed his back, while sighing. Why couldn't they make him happy? He had been crying several times a day every day since he had been staying with them. The Elders had graciously allowed him to stay, but it was obvious the child didn't want to stay. "What's wrong?" she asked, already knowing the answer. Brian sniffed loudly as a sob escaped him.
"I miss Daddy. I want to go back to Daddy. He needs me. Please, please, please take me back. You can come with me, but please take me back. He's my Daddy, I need him, and he needs me. I just want Daddy." The child stopped talking, unable to continue as sobs over took him. Kristy's eyes filled with tears at the child's heartfelt, painful words. Was it really a good idea to keep him here? He seemed to be falling steadily into depression even though he was only three. She loved him with all her heart, and it pained her to see him in pain. She wanted to keep him with her, but knew that wasn't the right thing to do. She wanted him to be happy no matter what, even if that meant she would have to give him up and let someone else take care of him.
An hour later Brian was standing in the forest where he had first met his uncle after running away from Petunia Dursley. He looked up at his aunt, eyes shining brightly. "Are you letting me go back to Daddy?" Kristy smiled tearfully down at the child. She knelt down to look him in the eye.
"Yes, I'm going to let you go back, but I want to stay in touch, okay?" She pulled out some paper from her pocket and a pen. "Anytime you want to talk to me just write on this, and wherever I am, I'll get it. And would it be okay if I came to visit you?" She scooped him up in her arms as tears began to roll down her cheeks. She had known it was going to be hard to let the child go back to his father, back to where he belonged in the magical world, but she hadn't expected it to hurt so bad. Brian hugged her tightly back and nodded against her shoulder.
"I want you to come visit me a lot. I'm sure Daddy will let you. You and Uncle Derek," he said quietly. He wanted to stay with his aunt, he didn't want to say good-bye, but he wanted to see his father more. She carried him to the edge of the forest before placing him back on the ground and kneeling down to look him in the eye. She could see tears in his eyes, but didn't know if they were from having to leave her, or because he knew he would see his father again soon. She gave him one last hug while looking down over the hill. She could see the flyers with the child's picture on it.
"Do you see those flyers down there?" Brian wiped his eyes and looked. He shook his head no. "They've got your picture on it. Everyone's looking for you. This is where you belong, not with me underground." She said this to mostly reassure herself, but it was a slight comfort to the child to know that his aunt was not mad at him and was not forcing him to leave. "You need to go down there. I'll stay here and watch, okay? If I see anyone that I think might hurt you, I'll come running." Suddenly overwhelmed by loneliness and sadness, she grabbed the child into another tight hug. "I love you so much, Brian. You know that don't you?" He nodded into her clothes.
"I love you to, Aunt Kristy. I promise I'll write to you, and please come see me soon. I'm going to miss you." He snuggled his head in the crook of her neck before she gently pulled back.
"I'm going to miss you to." She shook her head, wiped her eyes, and smiled. "Now go, little one, before I change my mind and take you back with me. Go find your Dad." Brian smiled widely at her. Without another word he turned and began to run down the hillside, across the parking lot, and onto the sidewalk where a woman with her two children instantly recognized him.
Brian was scared for a few seconds as the noise level erupted around him as the woman screamed that she had found him. He was about to run again, terrified by all the loud noise and the bodies pressing around him, but he spotted a familiar face running toward him. "Remus!" he screamed, tears running down his cheeks again. He reached his arms up as the man came toward him. The werewolf simply sobbed in relief as his arms locked around the child's thin frame and brought him close to his chest, arms tight. Brian's grip was equally tight, relief washing over him, and some of his fear leaving him. The child could feel Remus fighting his way through the crowd. Even though he was still scared of all the noise and people, he had to make sure Daddy was alive. What if he had been hurt, or killed, in the time that he had been gone? Suddenly the noise level died and the bodies were no longer around him. He could feel a cool breeze on his face. He slowly pushed back from Remus, but still stayed in his arms. "How's Daddy? Is he okay? Did he get hurt while I was gone?"
Remus looked down in shock at the child, still trying to process the fact that the child was there and alive. He couldn't see any injuries on the child, which was a miracle in itself. They had all expected to find him severely beaten, or worse, possibly on his deathbed, but here he was sitting up and asking about his father. Remus laughed out of relief and shook his head. "Your father is fine. He's missed you like heck, but he didn't get hurt, and he'll be even more better once we get you to him." Brian smiled widely as the car began to move. Remus had been so wrapped up in the child that he had completely forgotten about the healer that they had brought with him on the off chance that they had found Brian. He now turned to the man and nodded at him to begin examining Brian while he explained to the child what the Healer was doing. The child had a moment of panic when Remus began to remove his clothes, but Remus's gentle words of reassurance soothed him.
"He's a little undernourished, but nothing that a few good, hearty meals can't fix. There are some scars that concern me a little, he's obviously been beaten, but it's hard to tell exactly how old they are. Besides being a little underweight he's fine. All of his other problems can only be fixed by love." Remus nodded absently as they drove on to the point where they could apparate into Hogsmeade and then go on to Hogwarts.
"I've sent a letter onto Hogwarts telling Harry that we've found Brian, that's he's fine, and I told him to meet us in Hogsmeade. I told him that if he wasn't there I was sure we would run into him on the way into the castle," Tonks said from the front seat, smiling back at the pair.
Thirty minutes later Brian was still in Remus's arms, rubbing at his ears. He had decided that he wasn't particularly fond of Apparating. He immediately looked down the street for his father. In the distance, still within the gates of Hogwarts, he could see his father's dark hair running toward him. Happiness consumed him as he jumped from Remus's arms to run through the gates into his father's waiting arms.
Several hours, and many, many butterbeers later, Harry was lying in his bed with Brian snuggled safely against his chest. Harry couldn't believe that the child was actually here, safe and sound. Brian had told him all of what happened including the Dursley's abuse, which Harry was planning to sue them over. The whole school had celebrated in the child's safe return. Harry could still hear the festivities from down in the common room, but what he really wanted some quiet, alone time with the child. He needed to reassure them both that this was real and that Brian was okay. Harry smiled as the child snuggled his head into his chest, liking the gentle warm feeling of the child's breath. Brian was almost asleep, his tummy full, and his heart at ease now that he was back in his father's warm, strong, protecting arms. But there was something that he wanted to ask before he fell asleep. "Daddy?" he mumbled sleepily.
"What, baby?"
"You're going to adopt me, right? Once you turn seventeen?" Harry looked down at the child, slightly surprised, and nodded. Brian had turned his head to look up at him.
"If that's what you want, but if I do adopt your last name will be changed. If I become your legal guardian you can keep your name. It's your choice what to do, but we don't have to decide that now. You just need to rest. I'll-"
"I want you to adopt me. I want you to legally be my Daddy. I want to be a Potter." Harry stroked the child's head, tears suddenly filling his eyes at the child's words. He smiled happily down at him and kissed his forehead.
"Okay, I'll adopt you, and you'll be a Potter." Brian smiled widely at him before snuggling back against him, his warm breath tickling his father's neck. "Your name will be Brian Knight Potter, okay? Do you want to include your mother's middle name?" The child nodded and looked up at his father one last time.
"Yes, I want Mommy's middle name to be my middle name." Harry coaxed the child into his previous position, happiness consuming him, filling his heart to the brim.
"Good night, Brian Knight Potter," he whispered, but the child had already fallen asleep with a smile on his face.
Author's Note: That's it. That's the end. I know it's rather rushed, but I wanted to just go ahead and finish this before school started. I am not going to apologize for not updating for the past like seven or eight months. I have my reason for not updating, but I'm not going to share them. Life just throws unexpected things at you that require your full attention. Another reason I didn't update was because until the past couple of months updating my fan fiction was not a priority. Living was. I didn't care about weather this got updated, or not, and I still don't too much, but anyway! I know this sucked, and I do apologize for that, but it's the best I can do.
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